Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences I

About this programme

It covers both bivariate and multivariate regression, examining confounding factors, indirect effects, interaction effects, variable transformations, outliers, heteroscedasticity, and multicollinearity. Special emphasis is placed on developing the ability to independently perform ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, present and interpret results, and understand the method’s areas of application. Teaching methods feature integrated lecture–lab sessions, supplemented by individual assignments, peer-review tasks, group workshops, and both a classroom and take-home exam. The course presumes familiarity with basic statistical concepts, such as descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing. Successful completion provides a strong foundation for further quantitative study, including Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences II (SO7033) and Event-History Analysis: Regression for Longitudinal Event Data (SO7133). The course focuses primarily on the ordinary least squares method (Ordinary Least Squares, or OLS), where continuous dependent variables are analyzed. Students learn data management and skills that are specific to performing linear regression analysis in the statistical software package Stata. The methods will be illuminated through their two main areas of application: estimating effects of variables and explaining variation. The course begins with a discussion of bivariate regression (analysis of the relationship between two variables) and continues with multiple regression, discussions of spurious relationships and indirect effects. During the course, variable tra